Oakland police responded to earlier party at Ghost Ship, but took no action before deadly fire

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Long before an inferno consumed the labyrinth of dangers inside the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland, city police officers were told it was illegally occupied, and rolled to the place because of complaints about unpermitted “raves.” There were fights, fires and reports of guns. Building inspectors showed up, too.

None of that was enough to save the 36 people who perished in December amid the warehouse’s makeshift warren of wires, ramshackle stairs and sleeping cubbies.

According to hundreds of city documents released Wednesday, police were repeatedly called to the live-work warehouse in the two years leading up to the blaze for reports of thefts, fights, stabbings and guns, as well as two “rave” parties — one of which ended with a frightened person saying people were barricaded inside in the middle of the night.

Though they had to break up that party, officers didn’t make any arrests or issue any citations, despite the warehouse not being licensed as a nightclub. And there’s no evidence of any follow-up by the city, such as an inspection that might have targeted the perilous conditions inside the artists’ collective, according to the new cache of documents, which was released in response to media requests.

The documents bolster criticism that has mounted about why the city did not step in before the Dec. 2 fire in the Fruitvale neighborhood, which trapped guests at an electronic music event that had been advertised on Facebook and has spurred investigations and lawsuits as well as soul-searching over Oakland’s underground warehouse culture.

The most serious prior incident at the warehouse on 31st Avenue, according to a police report, came on March 1, 2015. At 2:35 a.m., someone placed a 911 call reporting there were “15 people barricaded” inside what police called a “24-hour art studio.” The caller “heard sounds like a tazer (sic) and threatening remarks.”

Upon arriving at the Ghost Ship — which was being used illegally as a home for up to 20 residents — officers talked to the “owner, who agreed to let people leave.” The report indicated that officers “stood by and preserved the peace as people left the scene.” The account did not specify whether the “owner” was the building’s primary tenant, Derick Ion Almena, who charged others rent to live there, or the building’s actual owner, Chor Ng.

About an hour before that, another officer had responded to a call about “an illegal rave with drug and alcohol sales” at the Ghost Ship, records show. The officer noted a possible infraction for operating without a cabaret license, but did not arrest or cite anyone, according to his report.

Records released Wednesday suggest there was no city follow-up after that. Fire officials have said they did not inspect the warehouse because city records indicated it was unoccupied, and they were not told by police or anyone else what was really going on.

“Whether you’re police, public works or building inspection, public safety means not just to react and go to a scene and check off a box on your paper,” said City Councilman Noel Gallo, who represents Fruitvale. “It clearly demonstrates the lack of cooperation from department to department.

“It’s the culture of reaction as opposed to pro-action,” he said, “and this is an example of what we need to do better.”

Erica Terry Derryck, a spokeswoman for Mayor Libby Schaaf, said Wednesday that city police officers “are not trained to be building inspectors. Their job is to serve and protect, and in the instances where officers visited the warehouse ... they were on-site to deal specifically with the rave and potentially dangerous activities.”

Police officials did not respond to requests for comment on the new documents.

In all, police visited the illegal collective and its immediate surroundings dozens of times in just over two years, according to the city records. During one chaotic call with dispatchers on Jan. 31, 2015, a woman told police that Almena threatened to kill her and had a gun.

Police were told by the caller that Almena lived upstairs with his wife, and that others living in the warehouse might have firearms too. An officer took a report, offered to do a security sweep and gave the woman a card that had information on getting a restraining order, records show.

The accounts were included in more than 600 pages of records released by Oakland detailing visits by police officers, firefighters, building inspectors and public works staffers to the Ghost Ship warehouse and its neighboring buildings before the two-story structure burned. Echoing prior statements by city officials, none of the documents describe a formal inspection of the premises to ensure it was safe and up to code.

Citing an ongoing investigation into the fire by the Alameda County district attorney’s office, the city has yet to release many other requested documents. The papers that were released are heavily redacted.

Attorneys for victims in the blaze said the documents offered fresh proof that the city could have prevented the tragedy — but didn’t.

“This is going to show the city knew what was going on in this warehouse and they failed to take any action to red-tag, close it down or help the people living there or coming to events,” said attorney Mary Alexander, who is representing the families of seven victims. “They allowed a place to exist that had no fire alarms, smoke detectors or good way to get out. It was a death trap.”

Families of fire victims have sued Ng, Almena and others connected to the property. Attorneys plan to seek damages against Oakland as well, although state law provides a liability shield for local governments for failing to conduct building inspections.

City Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed has said her department had not inspected the warehouse since at least 2004. State law requires that all commercial properties be checked by fire inspectors once a year, but Deloach Reed said the Ghost Ship building was supposed to be vacant and thus was not covered by the law.

Deloach Reed, who is on leave from her job for an unspecified reason, said in December that she had not been alerted to serious complaints there by other agencies, including the police.

The documents released Wednesday include reports from the Department of Planning and Building that raise questions about why inspectors apparently never went inside the warehouse after the arts collective took up residence in late 2013, despite multiple complaints about violations both inside and outside the structure.

Two complaint-driven cases were opened in November, just days before the fire. On Nov. 13, a neighbor complained of garbage and blight in the vacant lot next to the warehouse. The next day a second complaint alleged that an “illegal interior structure” had been built in the warehouse. An inspector went to the property but “was unable to verify” the allegations.

In October 2014, the city received a complaint that a structure had been built in the warehouse without a permit. The next day, department records state, the “structure was removed before inspection,” but there is no report of an inspection actually being carried out.

Building department officials did not respond to requests for comment on the new documents.

The cause of the fire has not been determined. But Jill Snyder, the special agent who heads the San Francisco division of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the building’s “electrical system is part of the analysis.” People familiar with the warehouse described a tangle of extension cords powering living and work areas, propane tanks used to heat an improvised shower and exposed wires covering a back staircase.

The Ghost Ship did not have permits for either residences or special events, and no business was registered there. Nonetheless, in November 2013, Almena and his wife, Micah Allison, leased the warehouse, paying $4,500 a month, and subleased space to as many as 20 residents at a time who typically paid $565 a month.

Almena, who declined comment Wednesday, has said he is not responsible for the tragedy. Ng’s daughter has said the family leased out the building as an art space and didn’t know it was being used for residences or events. Ng’s attorney did not respond to an interview request.